Game News Ultima and Gold Box inspired RPG Code of the Savage is now on Kickstarter

[Infinitron]

Tags: Code of the Savage

No matter how plugged in you think are to the RPG scene, there are always games that surprise you. Code of the Savage has been in development since at least early 2017 and was on Steam Greenlight last year, but it completely flew under our radar, until today when it launched on Kickstarter. The game's creator, an Australian chap named Geoff Jones, say it's inspired by classic RPGs from the 80s and 90s, in particular the Ultima and Gold Box series. The Ultima VI and VII influences are particularly obvious, though I'd also add that the game appears to be single character, with fast-paced combat similar to traditional roguelikes. But you should really see it for yourself. The pitch is very simple, but the video will tell you everything you need to know.

Code of the Savage is a tale of vengeance and survival. After escaping a slave ship, you have found yourself in chains and washed ashore on the island Kingdom of Daneth. You must find your way in a brutal and unforgiving world where nothing is black and white.

Deep and disturbing quandaries underpin the driving force of the game.

Code of the Savage is a no-holds-barred classic western style RPG. Inspired by the greats from the 80-90’s with a modern flair. There is a strong emphasis on player freedom through social and moral interactions… Will you choose to fire bomb the brothel, the church… Or both? Will you do it for money, glory or just because?

I think a problem with many of today's RPGs is that they expect you to know and care about their lore and backstory before you even take your first steps. In Code of the Savage, you and the main character are totally new to Daneth. So I don't want you to know the lore and backstory straight away. I want you to discover these things on your own terms as you play the game and interact with its inhabitants.

I wanted to create a role playing game that brought me back to my gamer days as a child on the C64 and MS-DOS PC. There is just something lacking in today's RPG's that I miss. Tired of micro-transactions, and randomly generated worlds; I am creating a world that is hand crafted with purpose. Essentially, I am creating the game that I want to play.

I believe one of the most important aspects of an RPG is the characters you meet in the game. I have therefore placed a great emphasis on NPC interaction. Each NPC in Code of The Savage has their own story, their own character portrait and a daily schedule. They will, go about their daily lives, going to work, eating and sleeping.

Level up your character and adventure forth to discover the treasures, history, and people of Daneth.

Features

• Open world - A large open, seamless, non-linear, hand-crafted world for you to explore. Including day and night cycles, and weather.
• Exploration - Discover towns, cities, hidden caves and dungeons. Unravel the rich lore of Daneth.
• NPCs with depth - Meet a rich cast of NPCs with a dynamic branching conversation system. NPCs remember your name and react differently depending on the situation.
• Dark themes - I don't hold back on what some may consider offensive content. If you're easily offended, Code of The Savage is probably not for you... This is not a "slay the dragon" and "save the princess" RPG.
• Player freedom - There are various ways to progress through the game, with no right or wrong answers. Morality in Code of The Savage is not black and white. You decide what's right, and you decide what's wrong.
• Adventure - Battle giants, undead and other creatures, hunt to gather resources, or go on a murderous rampage, the choice is yours.
  
• Combat - Fast-paced dynamic combat system which is a mix between turn based and real time. Combat encounters happen in real time, without loading to a separate combat screen.
• Inventory - An intuitive and easy to use inventory system. Any equipment and armour the player is wearing shows on their avatar.
  
• Controls - Smooth grid-based movement. Easy and intuitive mouse and keyboard controls.
• Fun - A familiar old school RPG game mechanic. Cast spells, hack, slash, level up, upgrade gear and kick ass!

Looks pretty cool, eh? Geoff is looking to raise 5500 Australian dollars to finish Code of the Savage. That's just $4000 in American, a completely achievable goal. But the project definitely needs more attention, so let's give it some. You can get yourself a copy of the game for a mere 10 AUD. The estimated release date is November 2019.

 

[Mortmal]

Great ? Err no... At best a nice and worthy effort of doing an oldschool rpg. Hes alone and its similar to the sharewares we had in the early 90's . It's better looking than those, but a bit too simplistic for my taste, those games had a party with different classes. It's a project that could be a little more ambitious ,seems he has the right ideas although.
Maybe that could end up good like neo scavenger, it had only one character too, but freedom and dark themes.

 

[MRY]

Geoff needs just 5500 Australian dollars to finish Code of the Savage.

I'm not sure he "needs" anything. At 5550AUD, it's just a made up money that he'd like to get. I hope he gets it, and hope he finishes the game, but he makes no mention of what he'd do with the money, and in fact he says:

My usual schedule has become day job, home, work-on-game, sleep, repeat. I am very fortunate to have an understanding and supportive girlfriend

with no indication that a successful Kickstarter will change that. Game looks neat. As Mortmal says, it's reminiscent of shareware games from the 90s, only edgier, but it's a kind of RPG that we don't see a ton of any more, so I hope we get this one.

 

[The Avatar]

The first part of the video with combat was kind of lackluster, but the NPC's and dialogs look interesting. The NPC's will supposedly remember what you've done and have a scheduling system like the old Ultimas. He should add companions as a stretch goal.

He says that the game is Western RPG inspired, but the perspective looks very JRPG. Would have more old school cred if he had gone with that weird perspective in Ultima 6/7

 

[CRD]

with no indication that a successful Kickstarter will change that. Game looks neat. As Mortmal says, it's reminiscent of shareware games from the 90s, only edgier, but it's a kind of RPG that we don't see a ton of any more, so I hope we get this one.

Most of the kickstarters today are just PR to engage press and people following and giving you free ads during the development to other people. So, nothing unusual.

 

[Ranarama]

Would have more old school cred if he had gone with that weird perspective in Ultima 6/7

Ultima 6 and 7 were ugly as sin. I much prefer this art style.

As for scheduling, it's a bit of a waste of time unless there's gameplay that hinges off it, like being able to steal things at certain times of day or a quest that needs you to follow an NPC.
Beyond that it just makes every damn PC interaction a tiresome job of hunting down the store menu.

 

[Bocian]

Features
(...)

• Fun

 

[Galdred]

Geoff needs just 5500 Australian dollars to finish Code of the Savage.

I'm not sure he "needs" anything. At 5550AUD, it's just a made up money that he'd like to get. I hope he gets it, and hope he finishes the game, but he makes no mention of what he'd do with the money, and in fact he says:

My usual schedule has become day job, home, work-on-game, sleep, repeat. I am very fortunate to have an understanding and supportive girlfriend

with no indication that a successful Kickstarter will change that. Game looks neat. As Mortmal says, it's reminiscent of shareware games from the 90s, only edgier, but it's a kind of RPG that we don't see a ton of any more, so I hope we get this one.

5550 would probably cover the cost of the Kickstarter, though.

The art is rather pleasing (especially when compared to Knights of the Chalice!) and the paperdolling system is nice .
But there is no party at all?

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

This is the game I would love to play.
I would love to contribute something however, why is the money necessary to completing this project? Can anyone shed light on this?

 

[Galdred]

This is the game I would love to play.
I would love to contribute something however, why is the money necessary to completing this project? Can anyone shed light on this?

Even with a zero art budget, you need some pocket change for marketing:

- Attending a few conventions, so that you have a chance of meeting journalists/streamers. Even free conventions end up costing a non negligible sum in housing, drinks networking and food. That is on top of the usual marketing expenses (flyers, banners, promotional material, etc).
At the Play Paris, I didn't have any banner, so the people coming to my stand thought it was a spin off of the platformer nearby with its huge banner.

- Paying "influencers" so that they pretend to like your game (note that some don't even pretend they like it while streaming).

 

[Thalion]

Looks interesting so far. I've always preferred single character RPGs so I'm hoping this turns out well. Best of luck from a fellow Australian indie dev.

I would love to contribute something however, why is the money necessary to completing this project? Can anyone shed light on this?

Probably for his own cost of living. Just because someone is making a game by themselves doesn't mean they don't need to eat and have a place to sleep.

 

[Gruia]

nice effort, nice design.im not won by it though. as i caare less about quantity and more about quality.. so im not the target here.
i love scripting and attention to detail. thats the future ^_^

 

[Dedup]

I wonder what part of this was influenced by the Gold Box games. I didn't really see anything reminiscent of them in the video.

 

[Ranarama]

The box it comes in will be Gold, obviously.

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

Looks interesting so far. I've always preferred single character RPGs so I'm hoping this turns out well. Best of luck from a fellow Australian indie dev.

I would love to contribute something however, why is the money necessary to completing this project? Can anyone shed light on this?

Probably for his own cost of living. Just because someone is making a game by themselves doesn't mean they don't need to eat and have a place to sleep.

This is what I was wondering about. $5500 won't last more than a month in Australia.
If its for art/music/marketing, that's fine, its just good to know where you are putting your money rather than a figure plucked out of the air.

 

[Shilandra]

Combat looks iffy and dialogue looks kinda limited but I suppose a good time can be had with it if the choices are dynamic enough.

 

[Haba]

The game's creator, an Australian chap

After escaping a slave ship, you have found yourself in chains and washed ashore on the island

I... see.

Anyhoo, looks great, definitely worth backing.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

I wonder what part of this was influenced by the Gold Box games. I didn't really see anything reminiscent of them in the video.

agree, seems entirely ultima inspired. no party, no tactical TB combat on a tactical combat board, no classes I could discern...nothing really except the art style in some places maybe

 

[Strange Fellow]

Looks interesting so far. I've always preferred single character RPGs so I'm hoping this turns out well. Best of luck from a fellow Australian indie dev.

I would love to contribute something however, why is the money necessary to completing this project? Can anyone shed light on this?

Probably for his own cost of living. Just because someone is making a game by themselves doesn't mean they don't need to eat and have a place to sleep.

This is what I was wondering about. $5500 won't last more than a month in Australia.
If its for art/music/marketing, that's fine, its just good to know where you are putting your money rather than a figure plucked out of the air.

Why not ask him?
Geoff Jones

 

[Infinitron]

I wonder what part of this was influenced by the Gold Box games. I didn't really see anything reminiscent of them in the video.

agree, seems entirely ultima inspired. no party, no tactical TB combat on a tactical combat board, no classes I could discern...nothing really except the art style in some places maybe

Yeah, I was thinking it might be the visual size and posture of the characters.

The game also reminds me a bit of SSI's Dark Sun RPGs (that font)

 

[V_K]

I get the desire to make a proper Ultima clone, but why did he decide to copy the worst parts of it as well (e.g. the next-to-nonexistent character system)?

 

[Geoff Jones]

This is the game I would love to play.
I would love to contribute something however, why is the money necessary to completing this project? Can anyone shed light on this?

I will add this to the Kickstarter page soon. This is certainly something I neglected, and shouldn't have. But to give you a brief overview: A large chunk of the money will be taken in taxes, and another big chunk will go into marketing. I'd love to be able to hire a professional to create flashy videos for the game for marketing purposes; which include professional voice overs/actors. This is an area where my skills are woefully lacking (as you can see from the KS video), and it is not something I can do without backing. I struggle to make ends meet as it is

I wonder what part of this was influenced by the Gold Box games. I didn't really see anything reminiscent of them in the video.

The gold box games were not so much the inspiration game play, rather the fact that they were what got me into the fantasy genre. The old Eye of The Beholder games were largely the influence for the character portraits (although they don't look too similar). Also there is gold in the game, and boxes.

Yeah, I was thinking it might be the visual size and posture of the characters.
The game also reminds me a bit of SSI's Dark Sun RPGs (that font)

Dark sun is def an inspiration to me. Particularly the setting.

I get the desire to make a proper Ultima clone, but why did he decide to copy the worst parts of it as well (e.g. the next-to-nonexistent character system)?

So far I have been developing the game under the assumption that the main character has a set name and appearance (A male called Naracus), Having said that, I am on the fence about whether or not to allow character customisation. If there is a demand for that, I't definitely something I can add. The only problem I foresee in that regard, is if the player is able to choose the characters gender, it may complicate certain interactions with NPCs...

 

[Infinitron]

I'd love to be able to hire a professional to create flashy videos for the game for marketing purposes; which include professional voice overs/actors. This is an area where my skills are woefully lacking (as you can see from the KS video)

Don't sell yourself short, I've seen far worse. The video does a good job of telling you everything you need to know about the game. It's actually the text part of the Kickstarter pitch that's a bit weak, but the video largely compensates for that.

 

[sstacks]

There's a lot I see here that I like.

However I'm likely going to pass due to this: Deep and disturbing quandaries underpin the driving force of the game.

A lot of cRPG gamers love that stuff and more power to them.

I'm personally somewhat turned off by it these days. Everyone talks about the great games of the 80s and 90s, etc. One of things about most of those games that appealed to me was the clarity of purpose on behalf of the heroes. I read and game, etc. to escape the real world. I don't mind clearly defined good and evil in entertainment., or having good actions taken with clear motives not resulting in some "gotcha" moment because the heroes are too dense to understand consequences.

 

[Haba]

I'm personally somewhat turned off by it these days. Everyone talks about the great games of the 80s and 90s, etc. One of things about most of those games that appealed to me was the clarity of purpose on behalf of the heroes. I read and game, etc. to escape the real world. I don't mind clearly defined good and evil in entertainment., or having good actions taken with clear motives not resulting in some "gotcha" moment because the heroes are too dense to understand consequences.

I have to admit, a part of what made Grimoire attractive was the bright eyed positivity of it all. Was kind of refreshing.